VOA常速英语2016--打破美国电影对伊朗人的刻板印象

打破美国电影对伊朗人的刻板印象

Jimmy Vestvood is an independent Hollywood movie featuring the Iranian American comedian¹ Maz Jobrani. The movie is about an Iranian who wins a green card lottery² ticket and moves to the United States, where he becomes an "Amerikan Hero."

吉米·韦斯伍德是一部由乔布·蓝尼独立制作的好莱坞喜剧电影中的一个伊朗人角色，这部电影讲的是一名伊朗人获得美国绿卡并搬到美国居住，并成为了“美国英雄”的故事。

"We wanted to do a movie where the guy who saves the day in the end of the movie is of Middle Eastern descent," Jobrani said, "because as you know, nine times out of 10 when you see a Middle Easterner in an American movie, he is saying, 'I will kill you in the name of Allah.' It’s usually a terrorist³ or a bad guy, so we said how about a movie that’s made in America that actually has the guy who saves the day."

“我们想要拍一部电影，一部结尾以中东人的方式拯救世界的电影，”蓝尼说，“因为，你知道，美国电影中的中东人十有九次会说‘我以真主的名义杀死你。’美国电影中的中东角色通常是恐怖主义分子，或者是个坏人，因此我们说为什么不拍一部中东人拯救世界的电影。”

It took Jobrani and his co-writer 10 years to write the movie, but only 18 days to film it in Los Angeles. Maz says no big studios were willing to produce the movie, so he and his partners had to do it independently.

蓝尼和他的编剧花了十年写剧本，但只有18天的时间在洛杉矶拍摄。乔布说没有大公司愿意拍摄这部电影，因此他和他的伙伴们只能独立制作。

"Hollywood does not know that there is an audience for this type of film, but I know through my standup comedy that there is an audience that wants to see Middle Easterners in a positive and fun light," . "Not just Middle Easterners, but also Americans who come to my shows who want to see a different side of Middle Easterners."

“好莱坞并不认为这类电影拥有观众，但我从我的脱口秀节目得知，有观众希望看到中东人积极向上的一面和轻松有趣的一面，”。“不仅仅是中东人，就连来我脱口秀的美国人也想看到中东人不同的一面。”

But he worried about the reaction of American audiences to some jokes in the moive.

但他担心美国观众对于影片中一些玩笑的反应。

"I think that Americans are very smart and I think that we underestimate⁴ a lot of Americans," "There’s a lot of Americans who are more internationally minded; they are curious about other parts of the world."

“我认为美国人非常聪明，而且我认为我们低估了很多美国人”。“有很多美国人具有国际思维，他们对世界的另一端很感兴趣”

"I know that because of my shows, when I do live shows, I look at the audience it’s like 50 percent just white Americans, black Americans, Asian Americans, other Americans than Middle Easterners."

“通过我的脱口秀节目我了解到，当我现场表演时，我看到大概有50%是白人，黑人，亚洲，和其他种族的美国人，其他是中东人。”

Jimmy Vestvood is now playing in Washington DC and LA theatre and will be released⁵ in New Yord on May 20th and San Francisco on May 29th.

 

《吉米·韦斯伍德》现正在华盛顿和洛杉矶上映，并将与5月20日和5月29日分别在纽约和旧金山上映。

1 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

2 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

3 terrorist   

n.恐怖主义者，恐怖分子

参考例句：

• Without the gun,I'm a sitting duck for any terrorist.没有这支枪，我就成了恐怖分子下手的目标了。
• The district was put on red alert during a terrorist's bomb scare.这个地区在得到恐怖分子炸弹恐吓后作了应急准备。

4 underestimate   

vt.对...估价过低，低估

参考例句：

• Don't underestimate the role of theory.不要轻视理论的作用。
• I think a lot of people still underestimate him.我觉得很多人仍然低估了他。

5 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。